Improvement in ore-feeders



T. A. COCHRANE & J. HENDY.

ORE-FEEDER.

Patented April 18, 1876.

UNI ED STATEs PATENT OFFIQEQ THOMAS A. GOOHR'ANE AND JOSHUA HENDY, OFSAN FRANCISCO, GAL.

- r IMPROVEMENT IN ORE-FEEDERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 176,281, dated April18, 1876; application filed 1 September 23, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, THOMAS-A. OOGH- BANE and JOSHUA HENDY, of SanFrancisco city and county, State of California, have invented anImproved Ore-Feeder; and we do hereby declare the following descriptionand accompanying drawings are sufficient to enable any person skilled inthe art or science to which it most nearly appertains to make and useour said invention or improvement without further invention orexperiment. Our invention relates to an improved machine forautomatically feeding ore to the stamps of quartz-crushing mills. Itconsists of a cylinder or truncated hollow cone, which is connected atone end with the ore-hopper, while its opposite end projects over theupper open end of the mortar, in combination with devices hereinafterexplained.

This cylinder is rotated by the drop of the stamp, so that a quantity ofthe ore will be fed through the cylinder into the mortar after each dropof the stamp.

Our invention also includes an improved clutching device for rotatingthe cylinder by the up and down motion of a rod or lever, and a bufferattachment upon the end of the lever with which a tappet on thestamp-stem comes in contact, so as to relieve the sudden jar or strokewhich results when the tappet comes in contact with the end of thelever. I

Referring to the accompanying drawing, in which Figure l is aperspective view of my device Fig. 2, a vertical section of the'clutchFig. 3, a vertical section of the feeding-cone Fig. 4, a horizontalsection of the clutch- The ore-hopper A is mounted upon a suitableframe-work, B, which extends forward a short distance in front of thehopper, as represented.-

A circular opening is made in the front side of the hopper near itsbottom. A short hollow cylinder, 0, is mounted upon the framework B infrontofthe hopper, so that its rear end will fit in the circular openingin thehopper, while its forward end projects over the front end of theframe-work. The hollow cylinderO is supported upon anti-frictionbearings or rollers d 01, so that it can rotate easily, its end turningloosely on the side of the hopper.

A flange, e, on the inside of the hopper, overlaps the edges of theinner end of the cylinder so as to prevent the ore from getting into thejoint. This tube or cylinder can be round or conical, as desired, andits interior may be either smooth or provided with ribs or spiralflanges to feed the ore forward as it rotates. We prefer to make itsmooth inside, as the rotation of the tube will cause the ore tocontinually drop forward and thus accomplish the feeding with greatregularity.

The outer end of the tube or cylinder projects over the upper open endof the mortar, so that the ore will drop into it and fall beneath thestamp at each drop of the stamp-stem. The tube or cylinder can berotated in a variety of ways, but we have devised for this purpose aclutch-pawl, G, which is constructed and operated in the followingmanner Around the tube or cylinder 0, near its middle, we make a flange,h, and on each side of this flange we make a groove, 6, which extendsentirely around the cylinder.

J is a pawl-bar, one end of which is attached to the lower end of therod k. The opposite end of this bar is just as wide as the flange h onthe tube or cylinder, and its extremity is curved so as to be eccentricto the opposite or pivoted end. In the end of this pawl-bar we place afriction-roller, t, which will bear against the face of the flange andgive an easy and positive action to its movements. A pawl, l, is securedto each side of the pawl-bar J by a loose attachment or bolt, V, whichpasses through the bar and side plates, and these plates extend uponeach side of the flange h.

Each plate has a rib, 0, formed on its inner edge, and these ribs are ofthe proper size and curvature to fit in the grooves 01 in the sides ofthe flange. The holes in the side plates Z, through which the bolt Vpasses, are slotted or elongated, and a set-screw, W, passes through theedge of each plate, so that one will press against each end of the bolt.By turning these setscrews the gripe of the end of the barJ and plates 1can be tightened or loosened upon the flange by moving the gripiug partsto or from each other, according to the direction in which theset-screws are turned. Now, as the outer end of the pawl-bar is lifted,its inner eccentric end will bind against the face of the rim h, whilethe ribs 0 bind in the grooves i and the cylinder will be rotated adistance equal to the lift of the pawl, and as the pawl is lowered itseccentricend is freed and the ribs move backward in the grooves, thusproviding a simple and effective pawl arrangement for operating thecylinder.

P is a stop against which the outer end of the pawl strikes as itdropsafter each lift.

R is the lever which receives the stroke of the tappet on its outer end,while the upper end of the rod k is attached to its opposite end.

In order to render the stroke of the tappet on the end of the leverelastic, and prevent the su'ddenness which occurs when the tappetstrikes a a solid object, we secure an india-rubber or other elasticbuffer, S, upon the end of the lever, so that it will receive the blowof the tappet and thus give an easy and effective stroke, which will notjar the cylinder or operative mechanism too suddenly. The cylinder willthus be rotated slightly by each stroke of the tappet on the lever B,and the ore will be conducted slowly through it from the hopper to thebattery.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

1. In combination with the rotating cylinder 0 having grooved flange h,the pawl-bar J having plates ll, and the ribs 0 corresponding with thegrooves 'i in the flange h, substantially as and for the purposedescribed.

2. In combination with a rotating feeder, the adjustablefriction-ratchet gripe, consisting of the pawl-bar J with itsfriction-bearing roller t, having the side plates 1 l with theirgriping-ribs i secured to it by the bolt V, and made adjustable by meansof the set-screw W, the whole arranged to gripe upon the grooved flangeh, substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. In combination with arotating feeder the jointed lever R k andelastic buffer S, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

THOMAS A. GOOHRANE. JOSHUA HENDY.

Witnesses:

JNo. L. BooNE, G. M. RICHARDSON.

